The Strobe Lights
by burningpassions7
Summary: Strange things are happening in Mary-Beths already unusual life. She moves to Forks to escape the painful memories of her mother to find herself stuck in the middle of a war. The Cullens are there as are the La Push tribe of werewolves.Fire and ice collid
1. Chapter 1

**A.N: So this is just another random fanfic I decided to write, obviously. But for this, I have no idea what in the world will happen, and don't really care whether or not people hate it. It's here because I had nothing else to do but talk to a wall, and I am not gonna do that. **

**_Blinding_ **

_Until Tomorrow by Paramore_

The music beat its rythym straight through the bones; the lights flashed and gave the viewer distorted images of the dancers; and the air was nearly steaming with the combined heat of so many people. Waves whispered softly against the cool rocks below the raving party on the beach. On the makeshift stage, a rock band was finishing their newest song. The drummer was sweating heavily, the bassist and the guitarist were really getting into it, their long hair pulled down over their faces as their fingers strummed wildly along the strings. The singer, however, outshone them all. He was tall, extremely so but somehow managed to look graceful and masculine while appearing to be completely and totally awkward and gangly at the same time. He wore pants so tight they looked like a second skin, and a deep red shirt that managed to bring out his own red lips and pale complexion. His long chocolate hair was layered just so and framed his face, making his features somehow appear angelic. The thing that caught every girl's attention, though, was his brown eyes. They were warm and innocent even though he had seen so much pain. The song ended, and the band swiftly exited the stage. A few minutes later, another harsher band was up there screaming and wailing.

"Triston, why am I here again?" I complained to my older sibling.

"Because you asked to come. I'm here to see if my band could play. Good publicity." He replied, and quickly found the other members of the band.

"Jase, did you ask?" my twenty year old brother asked like he was a five year old on Christmas morning.

"Yeah, they said as long as we have our own instruments and can get up there quick..." Jase was my older brother too, but instead of a three year gap, there was only a few minutes. Jase and I were fraternal twins in a family of seven. There was our widowed father at 41, Triston who was 20, Emily who turned 18 last month, Jase and I at 17, Joanne who was 5, and Zac who was only seven months old.

"Triston," I whined, "how long are we going to be here? We have to be at that new school tomorrow..."

"What?! I--I can't hear you Beth! Huh, you want us to go play?" he could be so mean sometimes.

"Triston!" I yelled as he wormed his way into the mosh pit, followed by the rest of the band. So there I stood, tired and pissed on the edge of these raging dancers, trying to think of what to do.

"Alright, uh, we're No Hope, and we're gonna be playin' a couple of rockin songs for you." Triston announced from the middle of the stage. I smacked my forehead, he could be stupid sometimes too. When they began to play, the crowd went wild. Somehow I was sucked into the dancing group, and I wanted out! Everywhere I turned, there were couples groping, grinding, and much more. A hand brushed against my thigh, heading somewhere else, and I decided to shimmy my way out. When I was finally spit out, I was on the opposite side from where I'd started, and now closer to the ocean. Well, those dork's will be a while...why not? I made my way down towards the water and then began walking away. Only when I could barely hear the music or see the lights did I stop and sit down on a huge rock at the water's edge. The waves curled up to meet my giant rock, and a cool breeze calmed me down. I sighed and closed my eyes.

"It's nice out here, isn't it?" a beautiful voice asked.

"Yeah. Strobe lights and heavy metal ruin it a bit though." he laughed somewhere behind me. I turned around to see the singer from the other band standing a few feet away with his hands shoved into his pockets and his brown eyes mesmorized me immedately.

"I'm William. Saw you walk off and decided it was a good idea." His lips curved into a gentle smile.

"Mary-Beth." I grinned back and stuck out my hand, which he shook politely.

"That's a beautiful name, how'd you get it?" he came to sit beside me on one of the other huge boulders that decorated the long strech of beach.

"Thanks, my grandma named me that because my parents couldn't figure anything out. Still shocked about twins, I guess." he looked like he was actually paying attention, which was strange because he looked to be as old as Triston, and I hardly passed for a junior.

"Twin? That must have been a nice suprise."

"Not really."

"So, Mary-Beth, what brings you to Forks? It's not necessarily a tourist hotspot." He changed the subject, not put off by my cold response.

"My dad wanted to move," I shrugged, he did it so often that it didn't really bother anyone anymore. "He was driving through on a trip to Seattle, found the town charming, and bought a house." Of course, it wasn't until he had bought the house and rented a moving van did tell us.

"Nice. What school will you be going to?"

"Forks High. It's our- my brother and sister and I- first day tomorrow, but Triston won't take me home. I'm gonna be wiped tomorrow. Just what I need!" the sarcasm leaked through heavily.

"These things hardly ever last very long. Too many kids with school, the crowd starts to disappear and the bands go home."

"But it's past midnight already! I'd walk home, but I don't really know where we live yet."

"Oh." he gazed out at the calm water, giving me a chance to look at him. In the light of the full moon, his skin was paper white, and his lips were a bluish purple. He looked like some kind of exotic model.

"What about you?" he turned to me, and I found myself blushing and looking down. "Your school." I clarified.

"Oh, I go to Forks High too. So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow. How old are you?"

"Seventeen, you?"

"I'll be seventeen tomorrow. So you're a junior?"

"Yup."

"Me too."

"Cool..." I picked at my multi-colored dinosaur tights, and pulled my pink jean skirt down. "You were really good up there." I smiled and looked up to find him watching me.

"Thank you. We're getting ready for prom."

"That must suck, having to preform and not get to dance."

"Not really, I'm not much of a dancer and I always have much more fun on stage instead of watching someone else on it."

"Oh. That's pretty cool, I guess...Uh, is it just me, or did the music stop?"

"You're right, it did. We should go."

When we got to the party site, the crowd was gone besides a few lone people cleaning up and putting things away.

"Beth, where've you been? We've got school tomorrow, you know?" Jase came running up, glaring at me and regarding William suspiciously.

"Jase, this is William. William, this is my twin Jase."

"Nice to meet you man. Listen, I've got to go. Mary-Beth, I'll see you at school." and William disappeared into the shadows, heading towards the cars.

"Come on, Cinderella. We've gotta get to Triston before he leaves us here like he did that time in Flordia. While you're at it, wipe off the drool that's seeping outta your mouth."

"Shut up Jase, it's not like that."

"I saw you goo-goo eying him while he was singing."

"Shut up and get a life." I stormed into the beat up Toyota.

"You are my life, love!" he cried dramatically as he followed me in.

**A.N: okay, that's chapter one. well, half of it. it gets much better from what ive written so far. hope you liked it somewhat. **

**review and tell me what you think!! **


	2. Chapter 2

_Rock 'N' Roll High School by The Ramones_

The next day, we all were rudley awakened by our father running around the house, poppint his head in every room and yelling: "It's already seven thirty! Get up! We're late, we're late!" He reminded me of the white rabbit in Alice In Wonderland. Zac began crying, and Joanne was still dead asleep. Jase, Joanne, Zac and I all shared a room when Emily, Triston, and Dad got their own rooms. Granted, Tristen was in the basement, and Emily in the attic, but we weren't complaining. Well, not all too loudly at least.

I got up and quickly dressed in some old jeans that used to be Jase's, my favorite long sleeved shirt, and another hand-me-down sweatshirt from Emily. Picking up Zac and rocking him gently, I went back to my bed where Joanne still slept and woke her gently.

"Come on you guys, Triston'll walk you to school Jo, and Jase! Get up or we're leaving without you!" That did get him up, and he rose like the living dead. Ten minutes later, Triston was taking Joanne to school while carrying Zac; Dad had left in a hurry; and Emily was driving us to school. When we got there, it was seven fifty and students were just filtering into their classrooms.

"We still have to grab our schedules. And Mary-Beth, hon, you have your pants on backwards." She burst out laughing and rushed out into the damp cold morning air, not stopping to wait for us as she rushed ahead to the school.

"Uh, you know what? I'm not even going to ask, Bethy." my brother reached over to open the door, but I stopped him.

"Jase, wait for me okay!" I struggled out of the tight pants and slipped them back on the right way.

"All right, now that we're late I don't really think it'll matter if we take our time. In other words, I'm not running around like a headless chicken to make it to the office." Jase said as I zipped and buttoned, still speculating on how in the world I managed to get my pants on backwards... We took our time getting to the brick building labled 'office' and made it just as Emily was walking out with a smug smile on her pretty face.

"Hello, I'm Mary-Beth, and this is Jase. We need our schedules, please."

"You're a little late now aren't you? Huh, I had them just a second ago...Right in my hand I swear!" The receptionist riffled through a stack of papers in some drawers, finally found them and told us where our classes would be. "Now hurry up, Ms. Rodgers hates slackers."

We rushed out and compared our classes.

"We have...Technology, English, Science, and PE together. I guess I'll see you second period then." I quickly kissed his cheek and rushed off towards another omnious brick building. The entire class turned around and stared curiously when I entered the History class.

"Sorry I'm late." I mumbled to the teacher with an 'I'm totally sucking up' smile. She bought it and guestured for me to sit. I did sit, in the very back corner. I was never one for sitting in the middle or the front, that and I was in an advanced history course at my old school, something I loved and passed with flying colors. I didn't need the teacher to be breathing down my neck while I tried to catch up on my reading. However, this teacher--Ms. Rodgers--was pretty aware and knew I wasn't paying attention whatsoever to anything she had been rambling on about for the past twenty minutes.

"Miss Mary-Beth," Her voice boomed across the room, causing the boy who had been sleeping in front of me to sit up, startled.

"Yes Ma'am?" I called back, careful to seem sweet and innocent. It really payed off most of the time.

"Tell me, when was the National Assembly formed?"

"June 20, 1789." the boy in front of me turned around and stared at me like I had two heads or something.

"Thank you." she blinked, obviously disappointed I knew what were 'discussing'. The entire class was staring at me much like the boy sitting in front of me. The classes dragged on, I went to Technology and English before last night caught up with me. Jase and I were in science when I completely zoned out and ended up making the experiment explode and catch my careful notes on fire. A few of the girls screamed, and the teacher rushed to the fire extingusiher. She was taking too long, so I simply picked up the corner not on fire, and walked it over over to the sink, dousing it with the freezing water.

"Mary-Beth, I think you can sit there the rest of this experiment out." The teacher regarded me apprehensively. Jase snickered and I had to fight the urge to stick my tounge out at him. The bell rang a few minutes later, and we all shuffled out towards the cafeteria. Not really caring, I walked to the first table I saw and slumped onto the table. Jase reluctantly sat beside me.

"Not gonna set me on fire, now are you?" he grinned and yanked my hair.

"Shut up. Not my fault things tend to spontaniously combust when I'm around..." Like last summer when Mom and I were making hamburgers, the fire on the grill wouldn't light so I decided to toss some lighter fluid just as mom was putting on the burgers...they ended up a little crispy as well as everything within a five foot radius around the grill.

By this time, the rest of the table had been filled. Yet again, everyone but those right next to us were staring. This was getting really old.

"Sheesh, take a picture people, it'll last longer." I said a little louder than I meant. The girl next to me thought this was highly entertaining, and starting to laugh. Not funny, it is _so_ not funny.

"Don't worry, they'll stop soon enough." she grinned in a friendly manner.

"Unless I fall on my face or blow up my science experiment, right?"

"Pretty much yeah. I'm Bella, and this is Edward." she pointed to the boy sitting next to her. His features were unusual, but not in a bad way. Goregous more like it, he reminded my immediately of my first and last boyfriend when we were in California. They had the same flawlessly white skin, deep shadows under the eyes, and features that made them look like fallen angels.

"Hello, I'm Mary-Beth, and this is my brother Jase." I smiled at them politely.

"Hey." my brother said quietly. He wasn't much of a talker when it came to new people. In fact, he wasn't even comfortable talking normally with Tristion or Dad. he was my twin, we were usually one half of a whole.

"So, where did you move from?" Bella asked curiously. The rest of the people at the table stopped what they were doing to listen in.

"Oregon." Everyone went back to looking normal after I glared at them. The rest of lunch passed calmly and conversation easily flowed between the four--or three of us, Jase hardly said a thing. When the bell rang, we flocked out of the caf and into the freezing rain like herds of sheep. Jase and I headed towards the Gym, praying we wouldn't have to participate due to serious lack of sleep. Last night was a huge mistake...I blame Triston.

"She was pretty nice, what did you think?" I tried to make small talk as we tried to find the Gym. I swear, the stupid buildings moved every period because I swear I had seen it right before lunch.

"Is her boyfriend related to Tom?" he always knew what I was thinking, even if I wasn't concentratino on it. Twin telepathy I tell you.

I shrugged in response and, having located the hiding Gym, walked in and sat on the bleachers.

"Ah, fresh meat. The Bell twins, right? I had your sister before lunch and she told me all about you two. Seeing as we don't have any extra uniforms, you two get to sit out today." she put a special emphasis on today and spun back around to the rest of the class, eyeing her prey like a hungry hawk.

After almost an hour of sitting in the corner talking with Jase, the bell rang for us to go to our next class. Our blessed last class! When I walked into the classroom however, I began to doubt I would ever call it blessed again. My father had signed me up for choir as some kind of punishment. Now I could actually sing fairly well, but when it came to singing in front of anyone, I acted like Jase. What made it even worse was that William and my sister were in here. No doubt Emily would somehow make it so I had to sing today...alone...all alone...I swallowed harshly and sent worried glances towards her. Grabbing a chair like everyone else did, I threw myself into the group around the piano. The class chatted loudly, and I tried to see where Emily had gone. Maybe the chairs ate her?? There were about thirty kids in here, making it easy for her to hide and plot until the teacher showed up.

"Hi, uh, Mary-Beth right?" I turned to find William perched on the back of my seat.

"Yeah, hi William. Happy birthday, by the way." He blinked as if remembering he had told me.

"Thanks." was all he had time for before the teacher came in.

"Welcome, welcome children! Ah, I see we have two new faces, two new voices. Let's see what they can do, shall we?" Emily went up first and sang the scale and did other exercises the teacher had for her. Her voice was clean and sweet but never whiny. She hit every single note given to her without going flat or sharp.

"You my dear will be a first soprano. Next victim, please." If only he knew how literal that was. The entire class was silent once again and watched as I very slowly made my way up to the front.

"All right love, let's start at Middle C and work our way on up." She began to hit the notes on the piano, and I looked desperately to Emily for some help. Maybe she could tell her I had some horrible disease that affected my vocal cords so I'd have to be transfered out right away. No such luck, she wasn't even looking up. I took a huge breath to calm my racing heart, opened my mouth, closed my eyes, and out came a rich full sound. I went up the scale, down the scale, repeated notes like an obedient parrot, and the class simply stared at me shocked I guess.

"What a range! Let's see, how 'bout you go for alto." I turned around, my face immedately turning red because of all the unwanted attention, and hurried back to my seat next to William. When the bell finally rang, I was all but sprinting to find Jase, unfortunately William was hot on my heels. Jase was talking to some guy who looked like a bodybuilder. He was so much like Edward, yet again reminding me of my past.

**A.N.: Next chapter is a flashback. Hope you enjoyed!! Review please**


	3. Chapter 3

**A.N.:** Hey people, this chapter is a little more mature/racy, so if you can't handle it move on to the next chapter! It's a flashback...nothing too bad, but still throwing it out there._**  
**_

_**The Last Three Words by Alesana**_

Flashback

* * *

Cold hands ran dow the length of my body, I shivered violently and a shy smile crept its way onto my lips. Frozen kisses trailed from my temple to my collarbone, and went up again, resting on the bas of my neck. Tom smiled against my pounding pule and breathed in deeply. He pulled back and was no longer happy. His bright eyes were fiery with anger, and it looked like he had stopped breathing all together.

"Tom?" I whispered, leaning back on my elbows on his soft bed.

"Nothing. We can't do this, you need to go. Leave, get your jacket and go." He all but growled, but I had absolutely no intention of leaving him.

"No Tom, this is the first time I've seen you in months! We don't have to touch, but don't kick me out." He opened the window and stuck his head out into the snowstorm that had conveniently snowed us in at the winter camp for at least one more night.

"That and I'm not very sure I would be able to reach the highway with all of this snow, much less the car."

He brought his head back in, leaving the window wide open, and sauntered back to me. He crawled down next to me on his side with his arm draped across my stomach and heaved a sigh. I cuddled into him and fell asleep within a few minutes.

"Mary-Beth, wake up." Tom's voice was gentle and excited, bringing me back to reality from my comfortable dreams withing seconds. "It stopped, let's go outside!" He picked me up, tossed me over his shoulder, and sprinted out the front door. He sat me down, causing me to land on my butt, and sat down next to me.

"Wow." I breathed. Everything was frozen and silent. The trees were now completely white, and everything was still. THe air was cold, but clean and crisp at the same time. The early morning light was pale ans soft, lighting up our surrounding as if it were something fragile and breakable, something the sun would break.

"Mary-Beth? I want to tell you something." The tone of his voice was anxious and stressed, immediately causing my heart to begin pounding uncertainly.

"What's wrong?" he looked so worried, as if I were about to run away or die or something. "Tom, we've been through so much together, you know you can tell me anything and I'll always love you the same." My eyes searched his, hoping he didn't do something horrible like kill anyone...

"What if you get angry or afraid?" he sounded so pained! Did he really murder someone?

"Tom, it wouldn't matter. I love you and I always will. Nothing you could ever say or do would change that!" He smiled then, taking my breath away.

"Will you believe me? If I tell you, I'm not lying or trying to be funny..." His beautiful features clouded over again.

"I'll try to." He turned away and gazed at the horizon aprehensivley.

"Mary-Beth, I...I am two hundred and fifteen years old." He had me there. My jaw locked, so I wouldn't say something I'd regret, and my gaze focused on a tree in the distance. He couldn't be serious.

"How?" I asked softly so the hard, sharp edge wouldn't give my doubt of his sanity away.

"I'm a vampire, Mary-Beth. I'm not lying to you or trying to be cruel."

We sat there for so long my pants got soaked and I was freezing by the time I found any words that wouldn't hurt him.

"Can you--" I cleared my throat, "Tom, prove it." I turned and met his cool green gaze.

"Okay." he got up and walked over to one of those metal snow meters, picked it--all of it--up out of about five feet of snow and another foot of dirt, and cmae back to sit next to me. He then began shaping it and compacting it down to a small ball the size of a hand as if it were a pipe cleaner. I couldn't move, the shock was immobilizing me.

"Come on, your lips are turning purple, lets go back inside." I stared at him, bewildered, and stumbled back inside, grateful we had left the fire on.. When I shut the doorbehind me and turned around, Tom was nowhere to be found.

"Tom?" I called as I ran through every room. When I got upstairs, I got a little scared. Was my life about to turn into a horror movie? No, Tom wouldn't hurt me."Tom?!"

When I opened the door to the guest room, I gasped and spun back around.

"Oh, uh, sorry Tom. Sorry..." my face heated up and was probably cherry red as I closed the door and locked it. After changing into something dry, I laid down on my bed and burried myself in my quilt. Just as I was drifting off into blissful dreams, a cold arm wrapped around my waist and a body pressed up against my side.

"Tom," I slurred in a sleepy drawl.

"Mary-Beth?" his silky voice caressed my ear.

"I love you." I sighed and relaxed into him. My eyes were closed and I was falling deeper and deeper into unconsiousness, I hardly heard it and was sure I was already dreaming when Tom whispered so softly:

"I love you too. Forever and always, Mary-Beth."

Present

* * *

William's had snaked out and grasped my wrist, his hands were that familiar frozen, and when I spun around to politely tell him to let go, I was stunned with the knowledge that William was so obviously a vampire. He matched the common characteristics: deathly pale skin, an almost sickly sweet smell, no blemishes to speak of, strange eyes, and inhuman grace for a man of his form. Gasping, I wretched myself free and spun around to sprint to my car. Too bad my view was blocked by Edward who was standing directly in my path.

"Edward, what's wrong?" A tiny pale girl pranced up to his side. They were both vampires. All three of them were! This was not good, not good at all. The one thing Tom had specifically warned me about was staying far aaway from other vampires because not many of them were very merciful to those who knew their secret. I took a step back, and attempted to skirt around them and find our car, but Edward's words stopped me dead.

"She knows. We have to take her to Carlisle, he'll know how to handle this."

I started running, but the parking lot was empty, save for a shiny Volvo. I knew my chances of being able to run and get away were zero to none, so there wasno reason to actually try. I couldn't believe Jase and Emily would leave me like that! Suddenly an idea struck me, and I plastered a huge smile on as I turned to face them.

"Oh, today? Sorry, I can't come, very important appointments I have to get to..." they weren't buying it and neither was I. "Fine, but I swear if you hurt me, there'll be hell to pay." Tom would catch wind of the news of my death at one point or another, and come to thill these things.

"Don't worry, we're less likely to harm you than you are to hurt us. Come on, we won't bite." The girl beamed and steered me over to the Volvo with two waiting vampires in the backseat.

"Great." I mumbled as I was all but shoved into the back. Edward got in the drivers seat, and the other three walked to the edge of the woods before taking off at vampire speed. We sped off in the car at speeds that made my heart pound at every turn and sudden stop. Less than two minutes later, we were getting out of the car and walking into a huge victorian styled mansion.

"What's with the girl?" A beautiful blonde vampire asked offhandedly.

"She knows about what we are. Get everyone down here so we can talk." Edward said and we all sat down on the couches in a magnificently furnished living room. William came in then, just as two more of them came downstairs and sat on the couch. It seemed funny, they were all piled onto one couch while I sat all by myself on the other one across from them, but I didn't dare laugh. It was so they could stare at me like vultures, I guess, because they definately were.

"Hello, I'm Carlisle Cullen, and this is my family--Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, Jasper, Esme, William, and Edward. Would you please explain why you're here?"

"I was dragged here by them. I'm Mary-Beth, and why--how can all of you live here together? Aren't vampires supposed to be loners or something?" They all looked at me incrediously, but I was dead serious! Had they started some twisted vampire cult or something? Becasue the largest grouping I'd seen was three, and here were eight! That and I was getting scared and nervous...

"Um, would you mind explaining how you know about us?" Rosalie demanded.

"Someone--I know is a vampire, and I just kinda put two and two together." They were still suspicious, I sighed, "Don't worry, I'm not going to say anything to anyone..." They visibly relaxed.

"Okay, well then." Emmett mumbled and got up, streching like a lazy cat.

Suddenly my phone went off. Looking at the screen, I found it was Tom.

"Tom?" I picked up.

"How was your first day? What are you doing right now?" his silky voice was cheerful and genuienly curious.

"Oh, you know, the usual...boring lectures, stupid people, being abducted by a band of vampires." The Cullen's eyes widened, and Alice cried out in disbelief.

"I thought you wouldn't tell! Liar." She growled the last part.

"No Alice, this is the uh...friend." I shot back to her, praying she would stay on that couch and not snap at my neck.

"What?! I swear I can't leave you for a week without something happening! I'm coming now." Tom shouted in my ear, clearly pissed and worried at the same time. not a good combination.

"No Tom, it's---" the dial tone rang in my ear, "Okay." Sighing, I stood up and checked the time.

"Well, he's not going to take long, maybe an hour. He's probably going to track me here and well, bad things would happen...It won't matter whether I'm not here he'd get into a fight and--depending oh how dead he was--come find me."

"I guess we have a guest then! Is there anything I can get you, dear?" Esme beamed and raced towards the kitchen, "I'll make some cookies for you!"

"Thank you!" I called after her, hoping she could hear me above the racket she was making.

A.N.: Okay, well I have work to do and this chapter seems endless so I'm stopping it here. Hope you liked it!


	4. Chapter 4

_**Intensity In Ten Cities by Chiodos**_

I was asleep on the couch, a blanket drapped over me, and full of chocolate chip cookies when Tom burst through the dorr frantically shouting my name. The next thing I knew he was by myside, hisice cold hands on each side of my face.

"What did they do to you? Are you all right?!" his hands patted me all over uncertainly, as if making sure I was all in one piece. Apparently he didn't notice the annoyed scowl and grumpy glare... Through all the commotion he was making, the Cullens made their way down and back onto the couch across from us to stare again.

"Why do you smell like cookies? What, were they trying to fatten you up or something?" He looked a little disgusted now. I giggled and made eye contact with William, who was trying hard not to laugh. He jumped up when he saw them, growling loudly.

"Sit down Tom! You're acting silly." I tugged on his pant leg until he did sit.

"I'm Carlisle Cullen, and this is my family." when he heard their last name, he quit growling and stared, shocked.

"Cullen?" he whispered so quietly, I hardly caught it.

"Yes. We are a unique coven of well, vegetarian vampires. We consume only animal blood, finding no need to kill innocents, and have found another way to live." Edward stated in the most serious voice I'd ever heard.

"I've heard of you, but never had the chance to meet your group. My name is Thomas Harvey."

"Thomas, my name is Esme, and this is Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, Emmett, and Edward. We're sorry to scare you so much."

"Okay well, I have to get home, so it's nice to meet you guys. Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." I got up, streched, and walked to the door. Opening it, rain pounded through immediately soaking me. I slammed it shut and dripped on the floor.

"O-kay then. Um, can someone give me a ride? I really have to get home."

"Why don't you stay for a little bit longer, I'd like to talk with the Cullens." Tom persuaded as he led me back to the couch.

"I can see that your eyes aren't red, so you don't drink human blood. Why is that?" Carlisle asked as he leaned foward, resting his elbows on his knees and knotting his hands together eagerly, patiently.

"I don't really know, it's one of the things I just do. I don't need blood for a long time, the last time I actually was thirsty and drank, was nearly fifty years ago. And before that was another seventy. i suppose that's my gift."

"Amazing. Please, if you don't mind, will you tell us your story?" Alice bounced on the couch and her eyes shone. Tom sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly before he began.

"I was born in the year of our lord, 1792 in the Scottish countryside. I remember little of my human years and of my early years after I 'died'. I do remember the way I died, the pain. But we all know of that. Years passed, decades, centuries, leading all up to this. I've never had the desire to be a part of a coven, or to meet humans. In the past decade however, my views ahve changed and I found the lonliness almost unbearable so I've been in these high schools, trying to get a taste of life again. I do not have a particular house, many scattered across the world. My current home is in Nevada. Oh! Another thing, sunlight does not affect me."

"Not true, it did that once! I remember because you all but turned into a disco ball." I put in.

"I have known Mary-Beth's family even before I was changed. So I have known all of them for centuries. Never have I found someone quite like my Beth though." He glanced at me, his expression softening a little. I blushed like I always did when he gave me that look, and stared at my hands to avoid the Cullen's gaze. My phone rang then, making me jump.

"Hello?"

"Mary, where are you? Joanne and Zac are going balistic, Dad's still at work, and the boys went out for some band thing. I have a life too you know! I have to leave in like, ten minutes. You need to get home now." my sister snapped in my ear.

"Okay Emily, bye."

"I can take you, I have to go get Bella anyhow." Edward offered as he stood and grabbed a coat.

"That would be great, thank you. Tom, I expect to see you soon. Thank you, Mrs. Cullen for the cookies, they were really good. Bye." I grabbed my things and raced out the door after Edward.

When I got home, there was a note on the door from Emily saying she had already taken off...and left our five year old sister and seven month old brother home alone. Swallowing my anger, I opened the door and set my things down with a clunk, and raced to my room--the source of all the screaming and crying. There was Joanne, sitting on my bed sobbing for all she was worth, and Zac in his crb making angry baby sounds before popping out his binki and screaming at the top of his little lungs. Picking Zac and Joanne up, I went to the kitchen and found food for us all. Zac zonked out five minutes later, and Joanne sat at the table coloring her picture book and finishing her grilled cheese sandwich. Just as I was able to relax on the couch, the doorbell rang...and rang...and rang. What was with this person?

"Coming!" I shouted and raced to the door. "What?" I cried as I opened it to face nothing but the pouring rain. I peered out, wondering if it could be Tom, but found no one. Looking down however, I found the most beautiful flower I had ever seen. It took my breath away, it was simply beautiful! It resembleda rose, but the leaves were all wrong,almost like a fern. Theflower was abrilliant blue, almost neon but still soft somehow. Picking it up gently, I whispered a thank you to whoever had sent it, and quickly shut the door.

"Whas that?" Joanne asked and ran up to me, reaching her hands up for me to give it to her.

"It's a flower. Go find a pretty glass cup for me to put it in."

"Okay!" She skipped off towards the kitchen, happy for something to do.

After setting it in some water in the cup Jo had given me, I placed it on my nightstand knowing it would be gone by tomorrow. Joanne kept looking at it weird...we were all dead asleep when everyone else got home, because when I did wake up, it was four in the morning. Blinking, I wondered why I had woken. No, what had woken me. Whatever it was, I had a strange feeling it wasn't gone. There was no way I was going back to sleep, and something made me not want to be in the house. The instinct to get out was so strong I grabbed my running things in a rugh, put them on downstairs, and sprinted out the door. It was raining...pouring actually. The cold hard drops soaked me to the bone in less than a minute. Three miles away and thirty minutes later, I was feeling the burn, and was somewhere in Forks. I think...I had been running on the roads for a while until I saw a little trail that led off into the woods. It was so tempting so I had decided to take it. The little trailquickly gave way to a country road, which I had followed for about a mile. The horizion was turning from black to grey, giving little light to my path. The sound of something behind me caused me to turn and look.

It was a dog. No, a wolf, a huge wolf. Like a horse size wolf. If it wanted to eat me, I had no doubt it could in one bite. For every frightened step I took back, the wolf took two forward. It was going to freaking eat me! The wolf's eves were a striking yellow-orange, but its fur was pure white, except for a few spots on its face that were black.

"Nice puppy...it's all righ..." it's ears perked up at the sound of my voice, and it stopped in its tracks. I glanced over at the woods, cooing at the monsterous dog who had sad down and tried to think of a way to get away. Still talking to the wolf, I began to sidestep towards the woods. Its ears perked up again and it got up, trotting towards me.

"Look!! Oh my god, wow! It's a beautiful distraction from the big bad wolf!" I yelled. The wolf turned around, and that was all I needed. Taking off through the woods, I looked for a tree I was able to actually climb. The wolf shot off after me, but not before I got to a sycamore tree and bolted up it. The wolf jumped up at my tree, trying to get at my perch while whining.

"Go away! Shoo wolf!" I shouted at him, and his ears shot up again. Sighing I began wishing I had stayed in bed, or thought to bring a cell phone...


	5. Chapter 5

**_I'm So Sick by Flyleaf_**

Deciding I mind as well be comfortable if I was going to be stuck in a tree for a while, I leaned my head back against the trunk and began dozing. A sharp bark woke me from my little nap. Looking at my watch, I groaned. It was five-thirty.

"What do you want? I need to leave, and I can't do that with you sitting there! I am not your little doggy treat, now leave me be!" A horrible cracking sound alerted me to the fact that the branch I was on was going to drop right off. The stupid dog barked again, this time in alarm, just as the branch snapped off, sending me pummiling towards the ground.

"Umph!" I cried, grateful I had landed on a very bouncy leafy part of the branch.

"Wholf! Wholf!" the dog went balistic off to the side of my jumbled mess. Untangling myself from the tree, I was met with something warm and very wet. He pulled me out by my shoe and was now licking me spaztically while sniffing every inch of me to check if I was all right. There was little time for me to scream, let alone react to the dog's strange actions, when he lifted his head and sniffed the air. He started growling, and the hair on the scruff of his neck lifted immediately.

"What's wrong?" he took a protective stance in front of me, and his growling grew until he was shaking with the reverbrations.

"Hey, quit that! What's the matter with you?" I reached out my hand and patted his hind leg. Spinning around, his wide yellowish-orange eyes simply stared into mine for a few moments before he ran away into the woods.

"Stupid dog..." I muttered as I stoof and brushed the leaves and dirt off my butt. Looking at my watch again, it was almost six. There was no possible way I was going to get home and then to schooll on time. Walking away towards the trail, I pondered the wolf's strangeness. He was much like a big puppy, not a real wolf. It was almost like he wanted to play, not eat me...not that I was taking my chanses. That pat on teh leg was all I was going to do...ever. A few minutes after I found the trail again, my new found friend burst out of the bush to my left and began growling at me. While wagging his tale...this dog has a freaking multiple personality disorder or something.

"Wholf!" he started running towards me, his fangs bared. Well, that was when my animal instincts kicked in, and I just spun on my heel and started sprinting back into the woods. While screaming like a maniac.

"No, stupid dog! Leave me alone! I'm not a freaking chew toy!!" he was gaining. Trying to find another tree that was easy to climb, I ended up stumbling and catching myself before I fell. I ran into a pine tree, trying to catch my balance.

"This'll do..." I muttered and shot up that tree faster than a squirrel. The wolf just ran on past my tree and disappeared into the woods again.

"I swear, if that thing comes back, I'm just going to let it eat me." picking up a pinecone off the tree, I hurled it in the general direction the beast had fled.

"What the--? What was that?" a familiar voice cried out.

"It's raining pine cones William, what else?"

"Oh, oh my God, William? Alice?!" I shouted, praying I hadn't been knocked out by the pine tree and was dreaming.

"Beth?" Tom's voice rang out.

"Tom! Tom, I'm stuck." my foot had decided it would be wonderful to wedge itself imbetween a branch and the trunk, and not come out.

"Mary-Beth, what in the world are you doing?" Edward asked incredulously from below me.

"I'm just enjoying the lovely day, Edward. That and getting chased by a huge dog! My foot's stuck."

"Here." Tom reached up, and broke off the branch that was trapping me as if it were a twig. My grace prevailed me, and I lost my balance falling backwards with a shriek. Frozen arms caught me, and I looked up to find William gazing down at me with an undefinable look.

"Thanks." I chirped cheerily.

"Anytime." he responded and set me down.

"So do you care to explain to me why you are out here and not in school?" Tom's voice was razor sharp. There had been a time last year when I used to skip school...a lot. Tom was the one who non-forcefuly made me go back. I had promised never to do it again, so he had a right to be angry with me. Especially considering it was a new school.

"Well, I woke up at four, and had to get out of the house. So I went for a run, and was chased by this beast thing so I sat in a tree for a long time...and then he just came back and forced me up this one. And he ran off just when you got here."

"A beast? You know Mary-Beth, your balloon story was better than that." Tom was really really angry. Fire burned deep within his emerald eyes.

"No Tom! I swear I'm not lying!" I felt like I was about to cry. Tom was rarely angry with me, and I had known him all my life. He was furious right now, probably remembering how many times I lied to him last year and thought I broke my promise.

"Beth." he was warning me. He looked like he was about to blow.

"I'm telling the truth, Tom! Can't you believe me?"

"How do I know you are? I can't trust you Mary-Beth, certainly this little trot in the woods proves it." he spat.

"Fine, don't believe me. I'm not going to put up with this, I'm going home." I pushed past a bush on the other side of the pine tree and began running towards the trail. My face was red with embarasment and anger. I can't believe we did that in front of the Cullens! About an hour later, I was finally home. After taking a nice warm shower, I wnt into my room to change. Right when I walked over to the dresser to grab something to wear, there was a knock on my window. Tightening my grip on my towel, I pulled up the blinds to find Tom. He motioned for me to open the window, which I quickly did.


End file.
